Tortured Mind
by gpshaw
Summary: During his tourture at a POW camp Erik has vision of what his life would be like if he had joined the Animorphs early if he had gotten the real morphing power and if he left the team in anger... not your typical self insertation!
1. Tourtured Mind

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Disclaimer: OK here's a fic that I will start out at T but words to the wise it may increase later (because the guys won't let us M writers use the front page!), I do not own the Animorphs if I did everyone who worked on the TV show would be in court right now for murdering a wonderful series by putting on Nickelodeon, AND I wouldn't be struggling to scrape together enough money so I can go to a University and have professors spout off their opinions all the time. I do however own the members of Glass Dagger.

Note: This fic is going to rely a lot on direction from the readers

Warning: For the two people in cyberspace who have read my previous fics there are some potential spoilers here

Final note (watch me wink as I write) it would help you (wink) to understand the plot (wink) if you read my other fics (wink wink) and leave a review (wink winkity wink wink)

Somewhere in the Gurwon Polar Region

My name is Erik Cortez Bishop, and time has ceased to matter to me. How long have been a captive of the Yerks, a week a month, a year? I was taken prisoner of December 29th 2009, along with Jade Rodriguez.

You likely know my history, how I lead the Glass Dagger team, a team that got the morphing power by stealing it from Andiate transmissions. How our team interacted with the various different teams that were fighting the Yerks as the result of the Applegate project, an effort to expose the Yerk invasion. You already know that I helped stage an attack that destroyed the Yerk Pool and ended the invasion.

If you watched TV at all then you saw how I fought to become a senator, you saw how Jake Bernson leaked information to try and undermine my campaign. If you watch C-Span you'll know how I became mired in an attempt to get our country to enter the war on Gurwon the Yerks latest invasion attempt.

If you listen to talk radio you'll know that I refused to go back into war, that I wanted to spend more time with my dear sweet Karen. I you had 1 functional brain cell left recently you heard about my wife's murder.

All of that led to my writing this right now. I am inscribing it on the walls of my prison with my finger nails that have become jagged and long due to the lack of hygiene in this prison. I don't know why I'm writing it, maybe I just need something to do… this is a dream I had while I was in a drug induced stupor that the Yerks tried to use to question me (the most they got from me is that I once had impure thoughts about my sisters Barbie Doll when I was 8).

Glass Dagger was formed by me and my sister at first, but in my dream I found an alternate reality, one where I joined the animorphs in a very different way in this story I will switch voices in many different places, my dream was not limited to first person, however it was oddly enough very coherent. Listen to my story and know that I am still alive even though I don't know how long…

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Raleigh NC

October 4th 2002

3:22 pm

I put on my camouflage. I really didn't feel right leaving Anna alone. My little sister had taken our parents death even worse than I had. And the custody battle ( I was 18 she was 16 I had to go through Hell and high water to keep her out of a home) that I somehow won was hard on her as well.

Anna had insisted I go hunting however, she said it might relax me. Maybe she was right… I been distracted lately. Ever since our house burned down and we had to stay in an apartment until the insurance paid off I felt that I was missing something, that there was some factor that linked the… There a burst of pain in my ears. Damn implants were acting up, my parents had done a good job with placing them in my sister and my ears to cure our deafness but there were still a few kinks work out.

I Walked out of my room and applied cover scent to my body. Anna was sitting down her shoulder length brown hair in a ponytail, she watching TV. I tapped her on the shoulder and she smiled.

"I hope you bring us back some venison I'm about tired of Pizza Hut." She smiled.

"Well I'm not." I said.

"Oh you just like it because that Karen girl delivers the pizza." She said pushing me gently I turned red

"Do not!" I said.

"Yes you do!" She said teasingly. "when are you going to ask her out?"

"Me ask her out, oh come on An-An, look at me!" I said. "I have the muscle math of a paraplegic earthworm, my fingers look like bones and…"

"Oh come on brother you have to have a little confidence, you don't look that bad! I mean girls flip for the red hair."

"You mean the hair it takes 2 tons of concrete to control?"

"Uh I give up, it's like talking to a brick wall." She said, that was my moms favorite expression, but Anna was smiling. That mean two things, one: she wasn't pissed at me, and two: she was getting over her grief. I gave her a hug.

"You sure you don't want to go with me."

"You're the hunter in the family not me." She said smiling. I gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Kay I'll be back a little after dark."

"good luck and be careful."

"I will." I said as I walked out. I meant it too, I wasn't going to leave my sister alone.

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A shorter chapter but I want to get this up and get a feel for how the public will react. Another note just to say this up front Erik and Anna are just close siblings there's nothing else there. I hope you all enjoy and please read my other fics.

gpshaw


	2. Hunting

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I'm going to place this novel shortly before David, expect a big twist here. I'm not sure if Rachel and Tobias had fallen totally in love by this time but I'm waving my poetic license wand and proof it's done.

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45 miles outside of Raleigh

My family was well off. They held patents to a few items and both worked at NC State University, as such we owned a lot of land, we owned some land outside of the suburbs of Raleigh. My father and I used to go hunting all the time out there… I did it alone now, I always felt like my father was there in spirit though.

I moved into my tree stand, it gave some altitude to see approaching deer better. This was only the second season that I was trying bow hunting, normally I carried a rifle with me. I sat down in the stand and watched the woods. I had placed my stand in a tree that gave me a view of a meadow. In the past year a hawk had moved into the meadow, I felt a kinship with the bird. Both of us were hunters.

"Speak of the devil" I chuckled. The hawk flew into a tree where I think he made his home there he visited that tree a lot. The hawk seemed to have had a bad hunting trip he had nothing in his talons. Poor guy, that mean he'd go hungry for the night. Then I saw something else, a girl walking to the tree.

I recognized her, Rachel Bernson a gymnast from my high school she was a year below me and most of my friends, myself among them, had a crush on her. For the past year or so I had noticed that she was changing, she had a nasty attitude with a good amount of people and hated Vice Principle Chapman worse than many of the students, which is saying something.

I guess she was here with her hippie friend. Cassie Moore was a nice girl, but her love for animals bordered on activism, and she had given me trouble in the past about my hunting near her land. Even went so far as to accuse me of trespassing when I went to get a deer I killed from her property.

I tried to be understanding with her, she was allowed her opinion but dammit the meadow was on _my _property (I had inherited it from my parents). I climbed down the stand, I was going to just ask Rachel if Cassie was around, and if she was I was going to politely ask her not to come around during hunting season because it spooked the game.

When I waked out in to the edge of the woods I could see that, unless Cassie and Rachel were playing hide-and-seek, Cassie wasn't around. That was odd, Rachel never struck me as an outdoorsy type. She walked over to the tree where the hawk was. Not a smart move, hawks tended to be solitary but if you threatened them they could hurt you.

The hawk flew from the tree and landed in front of her. As if that wasn't shocking enough the hawk began to grow. I rubbed my eyes but it was still happening. Human features began to appear on his face and the rest of his body. I stepped into the meadow my voice was not my own it sounded a bit high pitched.

"That's a nice trick you got there Rachel, now tell me how you did it?" They both started and the hawk (now in the form of Tobias a boy I had known briefly a few years ago, the general consensus on what happened to him was that he ran away from that prick uncle of his.) said something.

"Who the hell are you?" Rachel whispered into his ear she didn't know that my hearing aids were very strong so I could normally hear a whisper.

"That's Erik" Rachel said . "Owns the meadow technically he's the one with the parent's who made those implants, remember, the ones we couldn't find when we searched his house."

"Wait just a moment, what the hell were you doing in my house? Did you burn it down, did that hippie girl living back there think it was some kind of retribution for my hunting…" Rachel walked up to me. I couldn't help but feel a slight rush, she was a pretty girl.

"Thanks for insulting my friend that makes this easier." She clubbed me on the side of my head, I sank into blackness.

"Come on Rachel we have to let him go…"

"He saw us morph."

"You should have been more careful, now…"

"Wait a miunte, min-eett minnnnn-etttt , perhaps there is a better solution to this problem."

"Wadaya mean ax-man?"

"well think about it he knows knnnnnnnnnnnnows knowsssss about us, maybe we keep him hear for three days make sure he's not one of them and we bring him aboard."

"That's not a bad idea, we could use some help, hey I think he's coming around." My eyes opened and I immediately knew I was tied up, tightly. I saw a lot of faces around me. Cassie, Rachel, Tobias, Jake (Rachel's cousin), and their foreign cousin. Marco Rodriguez, one of my on-again off-again friends who attended Mass with me, and no one else.

"Hey guys, if it's not too much I'd like for you to untie me, because I don't want to be late for dinner." I hid my fear with humor, how late was it, Anna would be worried, God knows she's lost too much already. Jake spoke up.

"Welcome back, Erik, glad to see you survived Rachel's attack."

"Dispense with the greetings Bernson," I tried acting tough, hoping to intimidate him. "what the hell are you doing?"

"First mind your tone, second, I guess I'll tell you the story." So Jake told me about the Yerks, it seemed like a tabloid story, I didn't believe it, then Ax demorphed in front of me, and I panicked tying to get free.

"Oh Holy Marry, Saint Joseph protect me," I yelled trying a little Catholic speak, Ax looked a lot like a demon. "Get thee from this place thou unclean…"

"Erik cut it out, Ax here is not a demon." Marco said. Ax explained to me about morphing and then Jake dropped the bomb shell.

"We would like you to join us."

"Let me get this straight," I said. "you guys want me to fight a bunch of psychotic aliens with nothing but tooth and claw, are you guys _nuts_ I…"

"Before you answer I need to tell you this," Jake said. "the Yerks killed your parents…"

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Another short one I am cruel aren't I, but hang one I'll have more soon enough. Please leave a review, I need reviews I am seriously considering retiring if I don't get reviews soon. Ok that's a lie if I stopped writing I'd go insane but I still think you should review.


	3. Joining the battle

**Here we go again A note to Elwing, the show was pretty bad from what I saw of it, which wasn't that much, the show was ludicrously under-budget, and lost the essence of the books by making up new stories.**

"What do you mean?" Ax spoke.

(The Yerks knew of your parents device that corrected your bad hearing. The Yerks were afraid it would make the ear channels too small to fit through, they had your parents killed before they could market it, and, when they realized they had already created it they had your house burned to the ground.)

"For that," Jake said. "I feel responsible, we tried to save your house but we failed, that's the main reason we're asking you to join us."

"Fine I'll do it, untie me."

"That can't happen."

"Why I have the implants you know I'm not infested."

"We're not prepared to risk it. You'll stay here for three days while Ax poses as you for your sister."

"Bull _shit_!" I said. "I ain't gonna let Philitities over there take my place, if I do this I want to bring my sister along." Jake seemed to ponder this.

"Ax and Tobias you two team up and watch her see if she has to go somewhere every three days."

"Hey why can't you just give me that kind of surveillance?" I asked.

"You know about us she doesn't, if she doesn't appear to be a Yerk then we'll tell her too. Ax acquire him." The Andilate walked towards me and put his hand on my face.

(Sorry.) He said. I felt a sense of peace for moment, then it passed. When the creature stepped back the girls turned away and he changed slowly into me I noticed he was buck naked.

"Could you put something on I don't even like to look at myself naked in the mirror." Jake through him a bag and he got dressed.

"Don't worry, wor eee wor eeeeee," Ax said. "You sister terrrr terrr won't even veen veen. Know you're gone."

"I'll bet she will if you don't cut down on the…"

"I will try." Ax said.

"See that you do, she's been through enough without having her brother go nuts." Cassie spoke.

"Ax please, you really have to try this time, he's right, I have a class with Anna, she's really had a tough time…"

"I understand, it seems that humans have a longer period of mourning than my species, sp…"  
"Hey cut it out," I said. "She's a sharp girl you keep that stuff up she'll be on to you." That seemed to have a real effect, Ax visibly flinched.

"Ok, we'll need to take shifts watching him." Jake said, he was obviously the leader. "Cassie, since you've got the closest house you take the first shift. We'll figure the rest out later." They left except Cassie. For a thirty minute period no one said anything. I looked around. I seemed to be in an old shed it had a musty smell to it and most the windows were en crusted with dust. I was tied up by my hands and feet I could sit up and down with some difficulty but and other movement wouldn't' be possible. Finally I broke the silence.

"So," I said. "What did you guys do with my bow."

"I gave it to Ax, he's interested in human weapons." She said weapons with a slight venom.

"Hey if he wants to look at them then he can take a look around my apartment I hope he gives it back though, it was a gift from my dad."

"I'll tell him that." She said. Time passed again, to emphasize the awkwardness of the situation I actually heard a bull-frog croak, as if to break the silence. After a few hours Marco walked in. Cassie left.

"Damn," Marco said. "The tension is so thick I can barely breath."

"That's the dust," I said. Marco laughed a bit but I wasn't kidding. When he closed the door he kicked up a lot of dust. "How's Anna?" I said.

"Well Ax hasn't done anything stupid yet, that's a big bunch of luck right there. Speaking of which," He walked back outside and brought in a small box with the Pizza Hut logo on it. "Thought I'd buy you some pizza since there ain't gonna be any leftovers now that Ax is posing as you."

"Well I appreciate that but how am I going to eat without hands."

"Unfortunately I'm going to have to feed you so open up." I can honestly say that I have never been more humiliated in my life, I always thought being pampered would be fun but I honestly never new that having so much done for you degraded you so much. After Marco left Rachel came in.

"Sorry about hitting you," was the first thing she said. "it was for your own good though."

"Yes my current situation is a lot better than being at home eating pizza." I smiled.

"Oh I brought you a pillow," she said tossing it on the ground. "it's not going to be that comfortable but, well you'll have to deal with it." Rachel left as the sun was setting, Jake was the last one to come, but he told me Tobias would be keeping an eye on me and not to try anything. And it kept on in that order for three days, at the end of the period the door opened and Jake and the others walked in with Anna in tow.

"Well this explains why you were acting so weird." Anna said. She had the look of shock that meant she had just been told the whole story. I walked out and Ax was standing in front of us holding a blue box covered in runes.

"Once you make this decision, you are going to change your life" Jake said. Both of us had the same thought I think, we saw our parents faces. We walked over to Ax.

"Put your hands on the box." He said. We complied, I felt a shiver run through me, it kind of tickled. Ax explained the way to acquire morphs and how to morph it seemed simple enough. So I asked the next obvious question.

"Where do I pick up the big morphs?"

We walked in the back way, an "employees only" area of the local zoo called "The Gardens". We had split up, each of us had a master key to all the exhibits but each of us also had another Animorph to spot for us. Tobias was my guide.

I walked to the door of one of the exhibits. I read the sign

_California Condor _

I took the key and opened the door. The bird was dark black with a trace of yellow on it's wing tips. It's head was a dull red. I was in luck, someone had left out a dead rabbit for it to eat. While it was eating I snuck up on it. I moved fast and acquired it, once I was done it went crazy and flew up to one of the higher perches. As I walked out I heard Tobias murmur.

"Vultures, figures he'd pick the one bird that can out fly me…" I knew that to be true, a condor could fly up to a couple of miles high. I locked the door back. I thought about where to go next, it didn't take me long to think.

I walked into the snake area, there were two that I was interested in. One was a boa constrictor the other was green mamba. I was getting power in the former, speed and venom in the later. Both of these snakes would be useless in long term combat but, if I needed stealth then I was in good shape.

I walked further when one exhibit really caught my eye.

_America Mountain Lion_

_Cougar_

I walked into it, I was ambushed. The male that was in the area pounced on me immediately and clawed at my face. I heard Tobias moving towards me and I instinctively but up arms to cover myself. Before Tobias got there though I thought to acquire him. The cougar backed off and I ran out. Tobias locked the door.

"Oh shit man that looks pretty bad." He pointed to my wound.

"Really?" I said. "I guess I couldn't tell from the massive blood loss! Where's the damn medical area?"

"I'll go get Cassie just, keep pressure on it. He ran off. I guess I had been in shock earlier, because the pain came in and I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming.

"Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow." I said as Cassie's mom stitched me up.

"You're a lucky guy, your first day on the job and you get attacked by Ted." Her mom said. Cassie's mom was a woman I had a lot of regard for. She understood the truth about hunting, that it helped keep the herds thin and prevented starvation and disease.

"Who now, I got attacked by a cougar not a leftist democrat." I said. "Ow!"

"Ted's the name of the cougar, he's got a real attitude problem, but as you found out, he prefers the stakes we give him."

"Glad you keep him fed, just wish someone had told me about the guys tendency to attack people." As you may have guessed Cassie got me to the medical room before I bled out. Her mom stitched me up, I fed her a story about working here part time. I don't think she bought it though, I just think she didn't want to know what a stick figure was doing in the cage of a 250 lbs cat.

"There you go," She said putting down the needle and thread. "All done, lets see that's 1,2,3 18 stitches, you've got the new record now."

"Is there a prize?"

"Sorry, oh and there will be some scaring, I'm sorry."

"Ah, it's okay, I wasn't much to look at in the first place."

"Oh don't put yourself down like that."

"Ok, I gotta get back to work now, see you." I waked out of the bay. Anna wrapped me in a hug.

"You OK bro?" She said.

"Yeah, I'm fine, gonna have a nasty scar though."

"Yeah well beats a face huh?" She said and we both laughed.

"So what kind of animals did you get?" I asked.

"You'll see when we fight." she said. We left the room and went home.

**A note, I am going to keep my rating for now and just warn you when the M rated scenes are coming up, I'm trying to figure out if I'm noting getting reviews because of my space in the site or because don't have a fan base.**


	4. David

_45 miles outside of Raleigh _

_3:22 pm_

I had to try it, there was no way I couldn't. I made sure no one was around then I closed my eyes and concentrated on the condor. I shrank down to the size of the bird, my head became the dull read and a beak grew out of my mouth and nose. Feathers began to appear in a 2-D pattern on my skin and then became 3-D. My arms became wings and feathers grew out from them too. My bones became hollow and my lungs grew air sacs.

I was the bird, I felt the urge to find food, but it was easy to suppress. I let the bird brain take over just long enough to get airborne. When I did… it was incredible, I flew higher and higher until I was about one mile over the town. I could see everything as I rode the thermals I felt a sense of freedom that I'd never felt before in my life. I whooped in thought speak.

I flew around for about an hour when I decided to back home. I landed in the meadow from where I started my flight. I de-morphed and headed home. I knew that the feeling of freedom and glee was going to be offset by the missions I would have to endure but for now… I decided to just enjoy the feeling of flight.

I looked in the mirror of my car. I still had the scar from the Attack, Ax told me that scars are DNA based on some level so they stay with you from morph to morph unlike most injuries. As I drove into Raleigh I saw a moving van going in, hardly a new thing but then I noticed that the van's drivers were in military uniforms. That was funny, must be a retiree, or maybe someone here to talk with the Governor. I made a note of it wondering what it could mean.

_Raleigh _

_8:52 am_

_October 23_

I was on the internet searching for data on new animals to acquire when something caught my eye. E-Bay was selling

_An Antique Blue Box_

_Mysterious Runes, appears to be old_

_Has a large amount of static electricity_

_Highest bid $200_

"Shit!" I said, clicking on the post bid button.

_Sorry This auction is closed_

"Double shit!" I jumped up and picked up the phone. I dialed Jake's number.

**Forgive me if I get any small details wrong it's be awhile, and I can't find any of my books I may have given them away (I did find FF until very late in my life). So if you notice a bad detail remember this is pretty much a coherent acid trip (in torture the enemy will often use drugs.)**

**Due to extreme violence and some language Reader Discretion is advised.**

_Raleigh _

_4:23 am_

As you likely know the story of David I will skip ahead a bit, to the time when Jake had been attacked at the mall. I woke up to a knocking at my door. I was at the door quickly and I had my automatic pistol in my hand. (I had stolen it from a local drug dealer by morphing him while he was on his own dope.)

Marco was there in the doorway.

"Shit, what's going on?" I said.

"David's gone off the deep end, he attacked Jake, he's got him cornered in the mall, or" He seemed about to cry. "more like is about to finish him off, you've got to get over there, I'm going to get Rachel."

"Ok, you got it, on my way." I said. I left a note for Anna (in code) flew down my apartment stairs and jumped into my car. I sped all the way there and as I arrived I heard sirens in the distance. I put on a ski mask and made sure that I had covered my car's license with black paper. I then picked the lock on one of the doors using a set of lock picks that, ironically, I had bought at the mall. I rushed into a men's room as fast as I could and made sure there was no cameras around. Then I began to morph.

My face burst outward. My teeth became fangs, my visibility went from zero to a full 200 feet on all sides. I feel to the dirty ground as my arms and legs became the cougars legs. I felt the awesome power of the cougar enter my body. And the instinct…

_Land, my land? YES my land!_

I nosed the door to the men's room open and I saw David in his lion morph stalking around Jake's battered tiger body.

_Intruder, Intruder on land KILL KILL!_

_Shut up cougar brain_! I said to myself. I didn't want the cougar in control, it could fight better, but if Rachel arrived then the cougar may decide to attack her. I didn't think that David had noticed me, so I began to sneak out. David was ten yards away… 9 yards… 8 yards, 7 yards, 6 yards. He turned around and saw me.

(Erik, glad to see you could make it to the party) I looked at the dying body of Jake's tiger. I fought the urge of the cougar to eat it. I stared David in the eyes.

(You have lost your damn mind David! What the hell is wrong with you? I have no idea what you've got planed but it ends now.) David's morph let out a roar and I responded with the cougars patented.

"Rooooow". David charged at me and took a swipe at me with claws bared. I dogged somehow and jumped back then reared up on my hind legs and went for the eyes. David caught one of my paws in his mouth and bit down. It went through the center of my paw.

(Heh stigmata Jesus freak!) David said. I wrenched my paw out remarkably it was still working. I took a charge at him trying to get a hold on him with my claws. I got a hold and clawed wildly at his face. I missed the eyes but opened up new wounds on his face. I quickly dashed back out. We circled for awhile staring at each other.

(You need to calm your ass down David,) I said. (You may not like your current situation, but it beets being dead or infested I can guarantee you that.)

(Fuck you!) He said. He charged at me again and this time bit one of my legs, it snapped in half. Crippled I grabbed his head in my teeth. My fangs sank into the flesh around the right eye socket just missing his brain, the eye flew out and went into my throat. I backed off coughing.

(What's wrong St. Bishop? Got a hair ball.) He said through obvious pain. I coughed up his eye. Both of us circled again. Both of us were now losing blood. I was beginning to feel anemic. _Hang on_ I told myself _Rachel'll be here soon just hold on_.

(Why are you even fighting me Erik, you know you can't win. I have the advantage in size and endurance. Jake there thought he could beat me and look at him. I can smell the blood your leaving and…)

(But you've only got one eye, I can smell your blood too and you're not doing much better.)

(We'll just see who outlasts then.)

(I don't see Jeff Fucking Probast around here and, David, how long has it been. I've got another 90 minutes in morph. How long until you run out of time, and become stuck as one eyed lion?)

(Don't worry, I will kill you and have plenty of time to demorph.) Then both of our cat ears picked up someone moving above. I looked up, Rachel! David stared at her a bit too long. I used the distraction to charge into his side. I led with my teeth and sunk them into his back and started clawing at his neck. He used his monster head to knock me aside. I hit my head on a column and was stunned.

When I came back to I was still in morph and I saw Rachel fly out an open skylight followed by David. I was weak from blood loss but somehow I was able to stagger back into the men's room to de-morph. I heard the police enter.

"Raleigh PD!"

"Holly shit! That's a fucking tiger."

"Should I call for paramedics?"

"Hell I don't know, this is the first time I've seen a tiger injured."

"Lets find a way to get him to The Gardens." I heard a brief commotion then it seemed the cops had left. Just in case I snuck out in a mouse morph. (Just the other day I had gone to the pet shop at the mall and acquired lots of domestic animals, I even acquired several dogs and cats and learned the frolis maneuver from Ax. I used this to make a unique dog and cat morph that I hoped would be useful for going places undetected.

After I got out of the mall and de-morphed I saw Rachel being attacked by David. He was in a golden eagle morph and had latched onto her owl morph tightly. I got ready to morph into my condor morph, it didn't have much power but I could hopefully distract.

A red-tailed came flying out of nowhere and knocked the eagle clean of Rachel. Tobias? I thought he was dead… no time for that I made sure Rachel made it out safely and got back home.

_7:56 am _

After I dropped Anna off at school I headed for the hospital. I was in a program that allowed to volunteer at the hospital for credit hours. Lately Rachel and Jake's cousin Saddler had been in the ICU. He was messed up pretty bad, car hit him on his bike at 45 MPH. Bastard was drunk off his ass and was now at the local bar downing Jell-o shots bragging about how his lawyer got him off with a fine.

I had been tempted to go into cougar morph and deal out some justice of my own but I decided against it. I was a warrior, not a murder. As I walked into the hospital I heard an alarm go off. There was a Code: Blue. A heart stopping, I crossed my self and prayed for Saddler because I knew it had to be him. Suddenly all the lights went off. The babies in the ER waiting room where I worked started crying. Suddenly the lights went back on.

"The heck was that?" I murmured. I began going around and dropping off pills and bed pans to various rooms when Doctor Tanya, one of mentors, pulled me aside.

"Erik, you have got to see this, it's it's amazing!" Tanya was not easy to amaze, she had seen a lot of weird stuff as a doctor. We walked up to Saddler's room and, barely visible through the many family members, was Saddler, as good as new. The first thought to my head was to yell alleluia but then a thought came to me…

My suspicions were confirmed when Saddler asked to go to the bathroom at 90 minutes past the power outage. When he got in the men's room I met him there.

"Saddler, we need to have a talk," I grabbed him by his shirt collar and slammed him against the wall, covering his mouth so he wouldn't scream. "Now Saddler, you wouldn't happen to be a little punk ass army brat named David in morph by any chance now, would you." He did his best to shake his head.

"Then I guess we'll just wait here for another 30 minutes and…"

"Erik," Jake said sternly as he walked in. "put him down." I complied, for the sake of respect to the ranks in our group. Saddler quickly turned into David. I stared him in the face.

"What the hell do you think your doing? Where's the real Saddler."

"What that poor SOB?" David said. "Smothered his ass with a pillow lets just say the elevator shaft will be stinking the place up after awhile." Jake looked like he was about to say something unkind but let it pass. He walked out morphing back as he went.

"Great," I said. "now what do we do?" Suddenly an idea appeared in my head.

"We call in the others and figure it out."


	5. A plan

****

Again excuse any bad details. I'm changing David's character a tad I think…

__

9:21 am

I walked out of the bathroom, suddenly Saddler/David was standing in front of me.

"I can tell what your thinking Bishop, and if you lay a hand on me again I will make you regret it." He said with a sneer.

"You can't threaten me David, unlike whomever your used to bullying I don't back down from anyone."

"I wouldn't dream of threatening or challenging you Erik the fact that you even but a scratch on me in an inferior morph shows that the battle would be unpredictable at best, but, if you try and hurt me I will take in out on Anna." My heart skipped a beat. "I'll wait until she's alone, then I'll strike, I'll rape her, stab her and leave her to die, and that is a promise..." he walked out.

"He showed up in my house, he was in a flea morph on my shoulder." Rachel said.

"Which is when he decided to reveal his master plan to you?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's trying to get his hand on the blue box and make his own team."

"Why do I get the feeling that he's not planning to make a team for the good of mankind?" Marco asked. "I swear our lives get more like a comic book everyday, half expect to see Stan Lee written in cursive on the ground somewhere."

"We can't let him get his hands on that box," Jake said. _Thank you Captain Obvious _I thought. "Cassie you said you had it hidden?"

"Yeah I had it taken apart and hid it in where we met Elfangor."

"I'll take the box," I said. "And I'll handle this."

"What do you mean 'you'll handle this?'" Jake asked.

"Don't ask to many questions Jake just rest assured I will make sure the problem is solved."

"You're not thinking of killing him are you?" Cassie asked.

"I said 'don't ask questions.'"

"Erik, we can't become killers, we are not killers!"

"Yeah well I think a couple dozen Hork-Bijar could dispute that statement." Cassie looked hurt

"Hey!" Jake said. "That was uncalled for, Erik, look I know he threatened your sister, but Anna can take care of herself." Anna smiled trying comfort me and say this was true but I knew she wouldn't be able to out fight David for very long. "Erik, I think it would be best if you didn't come on this next mission."

"What!" I said.

"I don't think you're in the mental condition to take it, you've had a rough time with this David stuff, and…"

"I am not going to sit by and let my friends and family die in combat while I sit on my ass and…"

"I'm not asking you Erik, I'm telling you, this mission is not for you stay home and rest, sleep on it." I felt a rush of rage but bit down on it.

"Anna, you keep em honest then kay?"

"I will." Anna said.

"Anna you'll need to meet us again by 9:00." Jake said.

"I'll be there ." We walked out, Rachel pulled me aside. We walked into the woods aways and stopped at a small clearing where the sun shone making shadows. Over the past few weeks I had bonded with Rachel the most, she was the most like me in every way. Our relationship was nothing romantic, it was a deep friendship, forged in battle. Such friendships are very strong, but they could never become love.

"Erik, I'm sorry about this, I know it means a lot to you to be with us." She put her back to one of the trees .

"I don't get him Rachel, I don't think he understands what we may have to do…"

"I'd… prefer not to think about that, Erik. All this war we've done our best to avoid killing humans. Jake doesn't want us to start, I see his point but…" She trailed off, I put my hand on her shoulder.

"you don't have to become a killer Rachel, I wouldn't have that, I'm willing to take this sin on my soul it must be done."

"I know, just, give us chance to solve this ok."

"I'll try." We shared a quick hug then walked off to our respective homes.


	6. Resolved

__

The Gardens 4:45 PM

****

Spoiler I know in this section I get close to the dreaded Power Rangers Cliché (when only one person can save the day) but there's not much avoiding it This chapter is rated M I will likely change the entire books rating soon. By the way after this story with David I need my readers to throw out some ideas on where they want it to go next.

I had been given a job at the gardens since I seemed to have a way with animals. (While I do the incident in question occurred when I was acquiring a mongoose that normally bit everyone who tried to handle it) I was getting ready to leave when I saw something. David was in line at one of the sea areas, and at the Killer Whale tank no less.

_Shit! _I thought, I knew that David had a plan and I wasn't looking forward to seeing it play out. I knew that I had to follow him. I walked into a bathroom and ducked into a stall. There I morphed, my hair grew and became snow white. My skin became a leather color, my eyes became a deep gray. I lost about 8 inches in height my arms and legs became thicker. Soon I was in a human morph I made through the Flrois maneuver. I walked back to the tank and saw that David was still there.

He touched the whale and got it's DNA. I followed him out at a distance. Once we were far out of range of sight David morphed a golden eagle. I did some quick human to condor morphing and followed him taking care to stay above his range of vision.

I knew where we were going. We were going to Topsail Beach, about an hours trip by air. Topsail was the location of some kind of leadership seminar on the war on terror. Anna and the others were going to crash the party, big time! When we reached the beach it had started to storm badly. It was some kind of tropical depression.

David swam out a little ways into the water and morphed a killer whale. I stayed as far from him as I could can began to morph myself. My teeth multiplied, my mouth grew wide. Fins shot out of my sides, I grew a dorsal fin and soon I was a full grown tiger shark. I continued to follow David at a distance, fighting the sharks instinct to attack the straggler. After a short amount of time I saw a bunch of dolphins swimming in the water full speed.

They saw the whale and began to run. They hid under a passing shrimp boats motor.

(Come on guys do you think that's going to scare me?) David said.

(No,) I said. (But this might.) I caught him off guard for a micro second and took a chunk of his right flank off. The blood in the water made the shark want to continue the attack but I fought it. My goal was to get him to bleed and run. David swam off as fast as he could, he knew the blood would attract other sharks.

(I thought I told you to sleep on it.) Jake said teasingly.

(I decided to save your sorry asses instead, how did it go?) I said.

(Put is this way,) Marco said. (Tomorrow the _New York Times _will have a headline stating that PETA is charging Al-Qudia with animal cruelty.)

(Which reminds me,) I said. (Anna, did you eat Kofi Annon like I asked you to?)

__

9:22 pm

There was a knock on the door. I went to answer it. Karen Lanely was standing in the doorway in her Pizza Hut uniform.

"Two mediums, one with pepperoni and mushrooms, one with anchovies and olives, Erik if I may say one member of your family is deranged." She smiled. Karen had long black hair and green eyes with blue flecks. She had a small nose and a square face she was unbelievably beautiful when she smiled it set every man in a 2 mile radius' blood on fire.

We had been flirting off and on throughout her career of delivering to us. I was afraid to ask her out though, Karen was one of the higher class kids at school it a kid like me wouldn't stand a snowballs chance in Miami landing a date with her. Then I was given a surprise.

"Hey I'm done with work, this was my last delivery, I can get them the money tomorrow. Would you mind if I had dinner with you two, my parents are out of town and I feel like eating with normal humans." I smiled.

"Sure come on in." She took an extra pizza out of the bag. "I brought my own." She said. We placed the food on the table and I called Anna in. Anna saw Karen and gave me a look that meant I was going to hear about this when Karen left.

We served ourselves and said a quick blessing. As we ate Karen started up a conversation.

"How long are you staying at this apartment."

"At least a year." I said.

"New house will be built by then." Anna said.

"I heard about the trust fund you guys had, oh, I'm sorry, I have no manners…"

"It's ok," I said. "We have a trust fund of a couple hundred thousand dollars plus life insurance, we can live pretty comfortably, but we're keeping in school anyway. "

"I'm sorry about what happened to your parents."

"Don't be, it's not your fault." Karen changed the subject.

"Did you guys here about that attack on the UN convention thing?"

"No, what happened." Anna said barley concealing a smile."

"A bunch of animals came out of nowhere and tore the place to shreds," Karen said. "did lots of damage but didn't kill anyone I don't think. People think it's a terrorist thing but that's not possible."

"How so?" I asked interested .

"For starters no one died, terrorism thrives on fear and I'm not afraid of someone destroying property that isn't mine. Second terrorists like bombs and fire not animals, third, well my dad was one of the guards, and he says that it looked for all the world like those animals were working on their own accord. He said it looked like an army squad attacking ."  
"Your dad alright?" I asked.

"He's fine," Karen said. "Just got cut up a little when a crocodile knocked him through a window, he's back at work right now."

"Oh my God, I'm sorry Karen." Anna said almost blowing our cover. Karen didn't notice that Anna was apologizing for her actions though.

"Like I said, he's fine, it takes more than a reptile to put my dad out." She smiled. "Look I'd hate to eat and run, but I want to get home so I can feed the dog." I'll see you at school on Monday Ok?" I swear I thought I felt a slight tap on my leg under the table.

"All right see you then." I said

__

4:22 am

I woke up screaming, I was sweating bullets. Night Terrors, I had been having them ever since I joined the team. When I stopped screaming I heard a muffled yell. I grabbed a gun from my gun case and ran into Anna's room. At the door I heard a voice.

"Come on bitch, look on the bright side, at least you'll have had a good screwing before…" I burst through the door leading with my shotgun. I shuddered at what I saw. David was sitting on Anna's legs with his knees, her night gown had been ripped open. David had been fondling her when I burst in. He saw me yanked her up by her neck using her as a shield.

"I warned you fucker, you had to get involved, you may have stopped me this time, but I swear to you with your stupid God as my witness that I will finish the job, I am going to destroy you Erik, that's a promise." he groped Anna again and jumped out the window, morphing as he went. Anna covered herself and started to cry. I ran over and put my arm around her.

"Easy sis," I said. "stay calm he's gone now."

"Erik, he, he was going to rape me, I woke up and he was, just standing there. He grabbed me covered my mouth and, _frenched me_," She sounded like the very act made her sick, it made me want to lose the evenings pizza. "he… oh God, he told me what he was going to do to me." It was hard to hear the rest through her sobs, but I couldn't bear to give the situation any thought. I tried to get her to go back to sleep.

"I can't what if he comes back?" She sobbed.

"I'll stay be in here with the gun, if he tries it I'll neuter the bastard." Somehow Anna got back to sleep. I didn't even blink the entire night. Both of us stayed home from school the next day.

__

October 25th

6:45 pm

The team was planning to meet with David at Taco Bell. After I told the others about the incident Jake decided it was best to keep me away from David. Tobias agreed to help look after Anna. I had morphed in an ally, I was in my other human morph and wearing tattered clothes. I looked through the window and saw the others talking to him. I walked into the store.

Most people strayed out of my way. I walked over to the table. David rubbed beans and dip on Rachel's shirt. He turned around and was looking right in the barrel of my gun.

"I want my money pencil dick!" I said. "I'm not giving you anymore time, pay the fuck up." He looked scared. The fear in his eyes was wonderful, now he knew how Anna felt.

"Man I don't know what your talking about..." the store had cleared out, the cops would be here soon. I pulled the trigger. Most of David's skull went out the back of his head. A dark read mist settled over the tables. Rachel was covered in blood and spinal fluid.

I bent down and searched his body, I pulled out a wallet and took his shoes and a watch. I walked out. The other Animorphs were in shock, they knew that this was my morph. After I de-morphed and left the loot on a nearby bum I walked back towards my house and met Jake halfway, he told me to follow him into an alley.

"Holy shit man!" He said. "Why the hell did you do that? We had a plan to get rid of him, he wouldn't have to die even…" I stared Jake in the eyes and sneered the next words.

"He tried to rape my sister Jake, let me tell you a little something about my sister. She is the only thing I have left of my parents, she has been my friend when no one else will. She is my life and let me tell you something, I will make sure anyone who tries to hurt my sister dies," I began to yell. "Do you have any idea what she's been through! Do you!"

"Erik, I know what it's like to have a…"

"You have no fucking _idea_, what it's like to loose a family member! Your brother is infested, big fucking deal! You may see him again, _my _parents were shot in the back both of them are dead and I won't see them in this life again! The pain I felt at their death was much worse for Anna, she was closer to them than I was. She has been hurt enough, and no one Jake, _no one _is going to cause her anymore pain and live much longer." Jake yelled back.

"You are an idiot you killed a person, do you know that?"

"I have an idea yeah, but he…"

"No one should die Erik, not a human, we can't kill humans, we just can't. Erik if you ever do something like that again, _ever _you're off the team."

"No problem," I said. "I hope I won't have to do that again."


End file.
